Spirit of a Wolf
by FunnyCatGirl
Summary: REWRITE! Malfoy has joined the good side out of fear and something else. Many changes have occured with the start of the war, and new mysteries are appearing everyday. Hermione's life is about to change forever, but for good or bad?
1. Tears and Confusion

Disclaimer: I do not own HP, or the characters. The plot's mine, though.

A/N: This is a re-write of the first chapter. I haven't worked on this fic in so long, that I decided to go through and read it through before adding more. It was at that time that I re-discovered just how much the original chapter sucked. I mean, it was bad. But, that's all right; because I'm re-writing the first couple chapters to help fit the developing plot line better and just overall improve and lengthen them. Then, maybe more people will read my story and discover how good it gets, instead of brushing it off because of the bad beginning.

Liz: Here's to you, girl, for getting me motivated enough to get this written and up. I would have had it up sooner, but I had to completely move all my files from my old computer to my current one. That was hard because the old one was so old. It took a lot of file condensing, file moving, and emailing several attachments, but I got it done.

-whew- but.. Yeah. I hope you like the re-write.

Chapter 1: Tears and Confusion

Hermione sat down against the stone wall, hidden from view by a suit of armor. Tears were spilling down her face, and she was unable to stop them. All she wanted to do was run away and hide, jump in bed and pull the covers over her head. A good book would be nice, to take her to some other time and place and escape the here and now. Books had always been her means of escape. Whenever things were too much, whenever life just seemed like it was going to strangle her, she'd grab a book and hide away.

Finally, the tears stopped and she was able to clear her expression, make her face calm and tranquil. It would not do to let others know that she was troubled. She was Head Girl, after all, and all the younger students looked up to her. She must seem poised and in control. She came out from behind the suit of armor and into a deserted corridor. She followed what surely must be a worn path in the rug, for all she walked it, to her other hideaway, the library.

It used to be that upon approaching the library, her spirits would be lifted and she would cheer slightly. Now however, she was still downcast upon approaching. However, she was doggedly determined to search the selves for something she long believed not to be there, a book she hadn't yet read. She wove her familiar pattern through the shelves, pausing briefly to look at her favorite books, nod her head to fellow Gryfindors, or rearrange books that had been put away out of place. After a while, she noticed that someone had been following her. She walked around a bookcase and doubled back, and found herself face to face with an extremely surprised and embarrassed Ron.

"Ron! Why are you following me around the library?"

"Umm… Hermione…"

"Yes? I'm wondering why you were following me around."

"I… uh…. uh… I….uh..uh…."

"Well, fine. If you don't want to tell me, okay. But please stop following me. I thought you were- oh, nevermind." She turned and continued searching the shelves diligently. Ron kept following her, beet red.

"Uh… Hermione, The Halloween Ball is next week…"

"Yes Ron, I'm aware of that. I made a speech about it last week to the fifth years and up."

"Oh yeah… I forgot… well, I was wondering if you're going…"

She stopped to look at him. "Ron, I am Head Girl. I have to go. I even have to dance with Malfoy….." She stopped at this thought and trailed off. Ron, taking her silence as disgust, he put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know how you feel, Hermione. I'm sorry."

'How could he know how I feel?' Thought Hermione, 'He knows nothing about me…' She looked up at Ron, about to tell him off for assuming he knew her thoughts, but couldn't when she saw his face. His face was so funny looking, she couldn't help but laugh. He was so much taller than her, and she had to look up to see him properly. He was trying to look determined and confident, but was failing miserably. His face was bright red and he looked like he'd rather face Voldemort again rather than talk to her right now.

"Ron, why are you looking at me like that? Did my face turn purple or something?"

"No, no! Of course not! You look perfect!"

"Then what is it, Ron? There's no need to act so nervous around me. We've been friends for almost seven years. Chill out." She continued searching the shelves.

"What are you looking for?" Ron questioned, looking for a way to change the subject.

"Oh, nothing I guess. Nothing that exists here."

Ron wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, so he contented himself with following her down the rest of the row in silence. She was about to go onto the next row and continue scanning the titles, when her finger got caught in a thread loop at the top of a small book on the end of the row. She untangled her finger and in doing so got a closer look at the book. She had never seen it before; it was ragged however, and well worn, so it obviously wasn't a brand new book. There was no title on the cover, which puzzled her. She stopped and took it off the shelf, and held it in her hand. It was warm, as though someone had just put it down, which surprised her a lot. Suddenly, she had the urge to find somewhere quiet and sit down and read. She was about to walk out of the library and head towards her room, when she remembered that Ron was still following her – and that she should probably check the book out. She walked up to the main desk, still trying to figure out what Ron wanted, and how to get away from him.

"What's that?" He asked her, finding a way to open up the conversation again.

"It's a book, Ron.. I thought we'd gone over the simple principles of nouns." She flashed him a quick grin and stuck out her tongue. Then she turned and continued walking.

Madame Pince gave her an odd look when she asked to check out the book, but didn't protest. Hermione, looking at the book, missed the look. Ron, looking at Hermione, missed it as well. Hermione thanked her and started to head out of the library, Ron still tailing her. She had made it up a staircase and was in a secret corridor when Ron reached over and grabbed her wrist. She looked at him, startled; she had just about forgotten that he was next to her, as she was so used to having him there.

"Hermione… I…I…" He stuttered.

"Ron, what?" she put her hand up to turn his face so that he was looking her in the eye. "What do you keep trying to say to me?"

He took a deep, shuddering breath, steeling his nerves. "I…" He couldn't continue the sentence. Instead, he bent down and started kissing her.

She pulled away, scared. "Ron! What are you doing!" she looked around wildly, as if to assure herself that nobody had seen that. He held tighter to her wrist and pushed her against the wall, kissing her again.

This time she pulled away and shoved him back, almost panicking. She gave him a wild, terrified look, and ran away down the corridor to her room.

Ron watched her go, and then slumped down against the wall, his head in his hands.

A/N: just some info on the plot here, I started this fic a long time ago… so a lot of what was in the original doesn't fit with the actual story line anymore. Thus, I'm tweaking some of it here and there, those of you who had read it before, I hope you like the improvements. If you haven't read it before, well, I still hope you like it. I am including a lot of info from books five and six, so, if you haven't read them, watch out.


	2. Problems in Perspective

A/N: Come on, peeps, please read and review. I'm not asking too much here. It will get better. Oh, before I forget, there is a little (1) somewhere down there in the chapter. There is a footnote to explain the comment that it follows. Be sure to scroll down and read it to understand.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or related titles, etc. I do own the plot line, however, so please don't steal it without permission. v.v though I doubt that anyone will like it well enough to want to steal it. It's just my humble story, looking for someone to read it. The gofer idea was from my friend KageNoKatana, so credit goes to her for her aide in helping me write this chapter.

Chapter 2: Problems in Perspective

"You've really done it this time, mate. I don't know what she's gonna think about you now."

Ron had just shamefacedly told Harry all about what had happened, and Harry personally thought that he sided with Hermione on this one, but wasn't going to say so. Ron was his best mate, after all.

"I know, Harry. I don't know what came over me, I… I just kissed her. She's probably never going to speak to me again." He slumped against the wall again, this time in the room he shared with Harry, Neville, Dean, and Seamus. Only he and Harry were in there at the moment, however.

"Tell you what, Ron, I'll go talk to her, and tell her how sorry you are. Maybe she'll agree to talk to you."

"She's never going to go with me to the ball, now. I've ruined it! Even if she consents to be friends still, she'll never trust me like she used to. I'll never be able to ask her out."

Harry shifted nervously from one foot to another. He didn't like it when Ron talked about how he wanted to ask Hermione out. He was afraid of what would happen to their trio if they went out, and then broke up. Cho was still avoiding him whenever possible, and he didn't want that sort of thing to happen to Ron and Hermione. This started him to thinking about Ginny, and his stomach did a flip.

They had dated for a few weeks at the end of last year, but he had broken away the relationship to protect her. The summer had been hard, trying to bury his feelings and the urge to run to her all the time. She still loved him, he still loved her, but he didn't want anything to happen to her, so he made her promise to feign dislike until it was all over. He promised her that as soon as he had finished with Voldemort, he would run back to her and they could be happy for the rest of their lives. Ginny was hesitant, still wanting to be with him, but she had promised. Now, whenever he saw her in the corridors, which was rarely due to his frequent out-of-school ventures, she scowled at him and turned up her nose, flouncing off in the other direction. Harry, playing his part, teased her and put her down, not meaning any of it. Everyone except Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione thought that they had had a horrible break up over the summer and hated each other.

"Harry, are you listening to me? I've just told you three times that you're pouring that butterbeer all over the rug."

Harry returned from his musings with a jolt not unlike that from returning from the pensive. He had just been reliving a particularly nice evening spent with Ginny last year.

"Y…Yeah, I'm listening." He quickly cleaned up the mess and turned his focus back to Ron.

"Harry, are you okay, Mate? You look exhausted…"

He did indeed look horrible. He had dark bags under his eyes, his hair was messier than usual, and his eyes were slightly glazed over.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Or at least, I will be after some sleep. I'll catch you a little later. I promise I'll talk to her for you. I need to talk to her anyway." He started heading for the staircase to the dormitories, yawning slightly. Ron sat down on the couch, wondering where Harry had been last night, and thinking that maybe his problems weren't as bad as he thought after all.

In fact, Harry had been out researching a hint about the whereabouts of a possible horcrux. He hadn't had much luck in finding the person with the initials R.A.B., the person who had possibly taken the locket horcrux. That left Helga Hufflepuff's cup, the snake Nagini, and one other unknown object. He had destroyed a horcrux, Riddle's Diary, during his second year, in the Chamber of Secrets, and Dumbledore had destroyed another one last year, Voldemort's grandfather's ring. Harry wasn't entirely sure that Hufflepuff's cup and the snake were in fact horcruxes, but as Dumbledore had agreed last year, it was a pretty good chance.

Harry was hoping to find the person R.A.B., and possibly working with him to destroy Voldemort, but as of yet, the mysterious person remained so. Nagini was most likely to be found near Voldemort, so that left the hidden cup and an unknown to pursue. The challenge was steep and the chances slim, but Harry had promised Dumbledore that he would do this, and so he was.

After Dumbledore's death last year, Hogwarts had been partially converted into headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. Yes, there were still several hardcore students that showed up, but they were there mostly because they believed Hogwarts to be the safest place. Most of them had shown up with their families in tow, and many empty classrooms had been converted into temporary living quarters to accommodate them. In total, there were probably less than five hundred students there. Even the muggle members of some student families were at Hogwarts, which just goes to show how troubled the times were. Harry had even grudgingly invited the Dursleys to Hogwarts, but much to his relief they empathically declined. (Which meant that his Uncle Vernon had turned red in the face and started stuttering about how his family would never go to a place like Hogwarts.)

Hermione had taken the muggle group on a tour first thing, showing them where not to go and what not to do. The portraits had been surprised at first, and Peeves had tried many times to prank them, but someone came up with the good idea of giving Peeves a job to keep him busy. He was now drifting lazily around the Great Hall, dreaming up ways to torture possible intruders.

McGonagall was Headmistress now, of course, even though she seemed as though she didn't really want to be. In truth, she missed teaching. As Headmistress, and especially in these troubled times, she couldn't teach a class. As it was, they were short staffed—except for DADA. The school had its own team of aurors that would take turns giving DADA lessons to the entire group, including parents. Madame Pomfrey and Professor Slughorn were working together to teach a specialized group of older students and parents the arts of healing and potion making, as these skills would prove necessary.

However, with tensions running high and people walking down the hallways with wands extended as though expecting an attack at any moment, even McGonagall had agreed that they needed a little something to cheer them up. Thus, Hermione, as Head Girl, had mostly organized the Halloween Ball. McGonagall, however, being traditional, insisted that the Head Girl and Head Boy open the Ball with a dance together. Then the prefects and everyone else would join after them. After the first dance, the Head Boy and Girl would be free to dance with their own partners.

The problem: Malfoy was Head Boy. Yes, he had turned against Voldemort and joined with the good side over the summer, soon after school got out. Few people trusted him, however. Everyone was thinking about Snape, and how even after Dumbledore insisted that Snape was on the good side, he had turned against them. Truth be told, though, they needed the help, and they figured that if Malfoy was never told anything important and never left alone, they could try it. He was pretty much a gofer. (1) However, McGonagall saw some promise in him and kept to Dumbledore's original plan of making Malfoy Head Boy. Dumbledore had hoped that the position and responsibility would bring him to his senses and help him find the right path. Dumbledore had believed in him, and so McGonagall was willing to give it a try. Everyone protested, thinking about how Dumbledore's trust had been wrongly placed in Snape, but it was too late and Malfoy was now Head Boy.

Hermione was kind of curious about Malfoy, when she wasn't angry at him of course. He was all alone, without any friends, kind of in the enemy camp. Only he wasn't, really. He claimed that he had deserted Voldemort and was for the good side, but wouldn't say why. He was quiet, withdrawn, never in the main body of the group, but never unwilling to pitch in and do his share.

Hermione was intensely curious about him, wondering why he turned to the good side, wondering if he was just going to turn against them or if he was sincere, just generally wondering what he thought about when he sat for hours at a time just staring at the fire. It piqued her interest and she examined him from a distance, curious in the way a doctor is in his mental patients. He was a puzzle and she wanted to figure him out. She kept her distance of course; she still didn't trust him at all, even after spending most of the summer and the beginning of the school year in his company.

Ron and Harry still hated him, especially Harry, but the general mood was edgy temporary tolerance between the three. Only Ginny seemed to be willing to believe that he was now good, and kept trying to get him to talk. He was never rude, but was so difficult to converse with that she soon gave up each time.

In fact, his general attitude was different, almost broken compared to the arrogance he held just last year. He had seen trouble, and it had been cruel. He was dispassionate about everything except fighting Voldemort. His eyes would blaze and his fists would clench every time Voldemort's name was mentioned. Yes, Hermione was willing to sit back and watch what would happen with him.

A/N: Is that enough info for you guys? That should explain most of what has happened up to this point. Here, a little stuff for ya, a preview of the next chapter, just to keep it interesting.

Hermione was standing at the window, looking out across the moonlit grounds. The night before last had been full, and so there was still a lot of moonlight falling across the grounds. Standing there, looking out across the beauty of darkness, she could almost forget that there was a war going on. She had been crying, without quite knowing why. She knew what had happened, even though she didn't know why, and was now berating herself for being so weak and afraid. But, why did he choose then to kiss her? And why in that manner? She had a hunch that he had liked her for quite some time, and, truth be told, she had had feelings for him for a while. But, a heart can only hold out for so long, and while she waited for Ron to come forward, her own feelings began to diminish. She felt bad about Ron, and how she was going to tell him that she didn't like him anymore, but she knew it had to be done. After how he had cornered her earlier, she had come to realize that it was time to tell him; she just didn't know how.

Suddenly, a figure detached itself from the trees and started stumbling up towards the castle. Hermione watched it for a short while, suspicious, before determining that it was Lupin returning from his forest vigil during the full moon. However, soon after leaving the cover of the trees, he stumbled and fell, and didn't get up. Hermione began to panic and turned from the window, ready to rush down the forest and help him.

A/N: (1)- gofer, a type of junior officer or member who does simple grunt work. Comes from "go fer it" as in "go for it".


End file.
